ROME — A colossal cruise liner plowed right into a smaller tour ship and a wharf on a canal in Venice on Sunday morning, injuring 4 folks and reigniting arguments in regards to the risks of permitting the massive vessels to move by way of the delicate lagoon metropolis.

Footage of the crash confirmed the cruise liner, the roughly 900-foot-long MSC Opera, blaring its horn because it hit the wharf and crashed into the tour ship, the River Countess, which was docked at the San Basilio Terminal on the Giudecca Canal, the place passengers typically disembark from smaller vessels.

The accident occurred round eight:30 a.m. Videos taken from the dock confirmed the ship heading straight for the wharf, unable to cease, whereas folks on the jetty ran away in panic. Four folks from the cruise ship have been handled for mild accidents, the Italian information company ANSA reported.

The MSC Opera was approaching the cruise ship terminal in Venice to dock when it had a “technical problem,” the ship’s operator, MSC, mentioned in an announcement. The firm mentioned that the ship had been accompanied by two tugboats when it hit the wharf and the smaller boat at San Basilio.

Investigations have been underway to “understand the exact dynamic of the facts,” the assertion mentioned, including that the corporate was cooperating totally with the native authorities.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro of Venice mentioned the accident confirmed that “it’s no longer thinkable that big ships can pass through the Giudecca Canal. We’ve been saying it for eight years,” ANSA reported. According to the company, Mr. Brugnaro mentioned he had spoken to the Italian infrastructure minister, including, “Now we must urgently make sure that ships no longer pass in front of St. Mark’s.”

But the proposal was not put in place, with critics saying that the potential impact on the lagoon had not been sufficiently analyzed. Many say that the large ships should steer clear of the area altogether, and dock instead at cities like Trieste, farther round the coast.

The Italian coalition government, which came to power in elections a year ago, has asked for further cost-benefit studies to weigh other options.

Pino Musolino, the president of the Port of Venice, said in a statement that it was urgent to move “as quickly as possible to finally give a solution to the question of large ships in Venice, removing cruise ship traffic from the Basin of St. Mark and the Giudecca Canal.”

“After many years of inertia, we are finally close to a definitive solution to protect both the laguna and tourism,” he added.

Giuseppe Tattara, a member of a Venetian citizens’ committee that has vociferously opposed the cruise ships, said that the collision on Sunday proved that “accidents can always happen, even with modern ships, despite the assurances of companies that say that there are no risks.”

Mr. Tattara said that had the MSC Opera crashed about 100 yards before the wharf, “the ship would have hit the older boardwalk along the canal, which “would have disintegrated.”

“The only solution is that cruise ships remain out of the lagoon,” he added.